Suicide is introduced to this novel in two different ways: Albert's hanging and Bonnie's compulsive overeating. Albert dies more than 17 years before the opening of the novel. He is reported to have been a happy man who always had a kind word for those around him. However, the family struggles to reconcile these memories and stories with the way in which he died. Bonnie and the children are left with the task of supporting themselves without him, as well as the struggle to manage the feelings of guilt and abandonment that accompany his death. The Grape children live under the shadow of not only their only emotions regarding their father’s death but also of the memory of Albert that still lives in the minds of their friends and neighbors in their small town.

In the aftermath of her husband’s death, Bonnie, who was pregnant at the time of Albert’s death, is consumed with grief. She is left to raise six children, the last of whom is diagnosed as intellectually disabled. Gilbert reveals that his mother was once a very beautiful woman who had many potential suitors when she was younger, some of whom sought her out again in the aftermath of her husband’s death.